Former India batter Mohammad Kaif commented on star all-rounder Andre Russell’s retirement ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. However, Russell retired from the league after he was released by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before the auction.

“We are talking a lot about Green that teams will target him. If teams have just a few slots to fill and go all-out for a player, they might get a lot more than their worth. The franchises are not looking at money in such a scenario. He can go close to 25 crores as well. I think Dhoni would have been the most upset now with Russell’s retirement. He and CSK. They had him in their plans. They were front-runners if KKR did not buy Russell back. I think he would have gone 99% to CSK,” he said on his YouTube channel.

READ HERE: Shubman Gill Breaks Silence On ODI Futures Of Rohit Sharma And Virat Kohli

“I think Maxwell had doubts about himself. Don’t keep Russell in the same category. Maxwell would not go unsold for sure. Maybe he thought he would keep going from one franchise to another and could not take that disrespect. Maxwell had more downs than ups in the IPL. I think he himself had less belief. But he would definitely get a buyer,” Mohammad Kaif further added.

Mohammad Kaif also stated that Andre Russell did not decide to retire by himself but took the call after he was released by KKR as well.

“I think this decision was not made by Russell. They did not plan long-term. They released him and thought of getting money and dominating the auction. But now, after many questions, maybe they got scared that if Russell goes to CSK, for example, and he can be a match-winner and come back anytime, people will talk that they left him before. So they got scared. Now they thought he is their brand, so why give the advantage to someone else? So they planned to get him on the staff and correct their mistake. Maybe he also wanted to be with them till the end and so wanted to continue with them,” Mohammad Kaif concluded.